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The Doctor's Secret Son
Janice Lynn
The truth about that night…Nurse Chrissie Tomberlain never thought she’d see the unforgettable Dr Trace Stevens, father of her little boy, again. She hasn’t heard from him in four years, but then he shows up at a charity event, and offers her another night of unbridled, no-strings passion!Driven by his own demons, nomadic Trace has been saving lives in the world’s most war-torn places. He’s never wanted to put down roots, but then beautiful Chrissie turns his whole life upside down with one incredible revelation…he’s a father!
The truth about that night...
Nurse Chrissie Tomberlain never thought she’d see the unforgettable Dr. Trace Stevens, father of her little boy, again. She hadn’t heard from him in four years, but then he shows up at a charity event and offers her another night of unbridled, no-strings passion!
Driven by his own demons, nomadic Trace has been saving lives in the world’s most war-torn places. He’s never wanted to put down roots, but then beautiful Chrissie turns his whole life upside down with one incredible revelation—he’s a father!
Dear Reader (#ubc2ceeca-d2ba-5831-9eeb-6069c727f27a),
While writing my last Medical Romance I became more and more intrigued by my heroine’s best friend. By the end of that book I knew I had to know what her story was and give her a happy ending.
Chrissie Tomberlain has a secret she’s kept for the four years since she last saw Trace Stevens—a beautiful three-year-old son. Providing medical care to impoverished and war-torn countries is Trace’s life mission, but he’s back in Atlanta for a few weeks and discovers the attraction between him and Chrissie has only grown with time. Trace knows he won’t stay, and Chrissie isn’t looking to have an affair. But when he learns her reasons why he’s confronted with a past he’d rather forget.
I hope you enjoy Trace and Chrissie’s book as much as I enjoyed researching and writing their story. Drop me an email at Janice@janicelynn.net to share your thoughts about their romance, about Chattanooga, or just to say hello.
Happy reading!
Janice
The Doctor’s Secret Son
Janice Lynn
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Books by Janice Lynn
Mills & Boon Medical Romance
Flirting with the Doc of Her Dreams
New York Doc to Blushing Bride
Winter Wedding in Vegas
Sizzling Nights with Dr Off-Limits
It Started at Christmas...
The Nurse’s Baby Secret
Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk (http://millsandboon.co.uk) for more titles.
Janice won The National Readers’ Choice Award for her first book The Doctor’s Pregnancy Bombshell
To my editor, Kathryn Cheshire.
Thanks for all your fabulous insight and hard work
to make my stories shine.
Contents
Cover (#u500fed6f-8dbe-5653-8c1e-514e0aeab88c)
Back Cover Text (#u8bc32392-f522-55c6-a807-dc29b25c8f49)
Dear Reader (#ue87a79aa-d431-5df8-a142-80b4832aa856)
Title Page (#ucf276da9-70de-59a9-8d5f-2365db9401fe)
Booklist (#uff3d8f2d-3d9f-5d57-87b7-347ff35306a4)
Dedication (#udee56ab5-1de3-5a1e-a3f7-a14a4b5a79c0)
CHAPTER ONE (#u9bd53594-0e9f-5338-a4c6-170876a99929)
CHAPTER TWO (#u74e80539-b3eb-5974-939a-80bb8a3235af)
CHAPTER THREE (#u1a050525-9be7-5417-a32b-e2065b2012b5)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u83922614-d19d-5c6a-870a-f20a955b2b9e)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ubc2ceeca-d2ba-5831-9eeb-6069c727f27a)
IT WAS HER.
Her hair was longer and her body a bit curvier, but the wide smile on her full lips was the same, as was the sparkle in her bright green gaze.
Not for a single second did Dr. Trace Stevens doubt the perky little blonde nurse’s identity. How could he? No woman had ever caused such an intense sexual reaction in him as Chrissie Tomberlain.
Trace’s lips curved.
This weekend had definitely just taken a turn for the better. A big turn. Four years ago she’d made his last weekend in the States unforgettable. He still had a few weeks before leaving again, but he welcomed the distraction.
Chrissie had been the best distraction he’d ever known.
So much so that even now, from time to time, he’d awaken drenched in sweat, with an ache in his gut that hadn’t been satisfied in years.
Four years, to be exact.
Ironic to run into her because more than once he’d considered looking her up, seeing if she was single, seeing if she’d be interested in spending time with him while he was home.
Then again, this event was where they’d met, so maybe not so ironic. Still, this weekend was exactly what he needed in so many ways.
A few weeks from now, he’d go back to doing what he was meant to do in life. There were places in the world that needed him a lot more than he was needed in Atlanta, Georgia, even if his friends and family thought otherwise.
* * *
Chrissie Tomberlain hadn’t spent a night away from her three-year-old son since he’d been born. So why had she let her best friend convince her that staying away from him for a whole weekend would be a good idea?
Okay, Savannah was right that Chrissie never did anything but work and take care of Joss. But there wasn’t anything she’d rather do than spend time with her son, so she hadn’t seen it as a problem. Spending time with Joss was a blessing she cherished each and every time she looked into his precious face, heard his sweet voice, felt his little hands pat her cheek.
Prior to Joss’s birth, she had enjoyed volunteering at various charity fund-raisers around her hometown of Chattanooga. She’d done so at the huge children’s cancer prevention event in Atlanta several times in the past.
But not since she’d gotten pregnant with Joss.
At the event.
By a man she hadn’t seen since.
Until now.
Trace Stevens hadn’t changed much from four years ago.
He was still sexy as hell and made her body do crazy, previously unexperienced things.
Made her mind go back to the night of passion of four years ago that had led to her becoming a single mother by a man she’d just met.
A man who had no idea he’d fathered a son.
Her son. Her sweet, wonderful Joss.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and prepared herself for what she hadn’t really thought would ever happen.
She wasn’t supposed to see Trace again.
He wasn’t supposed to be here.
Yet, if she was honest with herself, wouldn’t she admit that from the moment she’d gotten into her car in Chattanooga she’d had a nervous energy inside, wondering “what if’ the entire two-hour drive?
What if Trace was there?
What if their paths really did cross again?
What if he still lit her body on fire with a mere glance, something no one else had ever done before or since?
There he was, standing in a tent not so unlike the one they’d met in four years ago. For all she knew it might be the exact same one if Children’s Cancer Prevention Organization owned their commercial tents, rather than rented them.
A big sexy grin climbed up Trace’s face as his gaze collided with hers and recognition hit.
He remembered her.
Of course he remembered her.
They’d spent an entire weekend together. A lot of it together together. Four years wasn’t so long ago that he’d forget a weekend that hot and heavy.
Then again, maybe he had hot and heavy weekends like that routinely.
She knew nothing about the man except that he was amazing in bed and had been a fellow volunteer at the CCPO. That year, the event had done a three-day walk. This year, the organization was sponsoring a weekend of family fun. On Friday evening, they were having a welcome event and a bubble-a-thon dance party open to all participants and their families. On Saturday morning, they were having a marathon, with various levels of participation. Some committing to a five K, some to the full marathon. Others committing to various distances in between. Then, in the evening, they were having sponsored Olympic-style games for the kids.
Now, as then, Chrissie had signed up to work the medical tent all weekend. Full of nervous energy, she’d dropped Joss off to Savannah early that morning, then made the drive so she could help organize the medical station and volunteer to assist with anything else needed prior to the families and fund-raiser participants starting to arrive.
Imagine running into Trace within minutes of her arrival.
Imagine, she had.
For four years she’d imagined this moment, coming face to face with the man who’d haunted her dreams and her reality.
Yet it wasn’t really as intense as it should have been. The sun hadn’t stood still in the sky. The earth hadn’t quaked. Lightning hadn’t streaked its way to the ground. Nothing. They were just standing in a tent, looking at each other, a man and a woman with a past while the rest of the world went on as usual.
No big deal. But her heart pounded like crazy and her chest wanted to heave from lack of air.
Probably had something to do with the look in Trace’s eyes when he’d spotted her that said he’d figured out exactly what he’d be doing this weekend, other than working the medical tent.
Or more like who.
Why, oh, why was everything in her screaming yes?
Other than her brain, that was. Her brain warned she’d best stay far, far away because to have anything to do with him would be risking everything.
